3Com Corp. and Microsoft Corp. announced they plan to develop co-branded home networking
products that initially will include traditional ethernet and home-phone-line networking kits, with radio-frequency and
power-line kits to follow. Using a single Internet connection, two or more family members can simultaneously surf the
Web. The first networking kits are scheduled to be released to original equipment manufacturers this summer, with
retail kits scheduled to be available this fall.
Ansoft Corp. said it signed a licensing agreement with Lucent
Technologies Inc. allowing Ansoft to include the Integral Equation Solver in three dimensions software in the high-
speed radio-frequency chip design in its Signal Integrity products. Whereas previous RF design software worked on
individual circuit components or small circuits, the IES3 software can handle much larger portions of a chip, including
the interactions between the components, said Lucent, thus greatly reducing production time.
International Billing
Services announced it extended its statement processing agreement with AirTouch Paging and will continue to provide
AirTouch with statement processing services for its nationwide base of paging customers.
Datalink.net announced
its CommodityXpress market quote information service now includes quotes from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange
Globex system and the Chicago Board of Trade Project A system, both of which trade at night, after floor-trading
hours.
Let’s Talk Cellular & Wireless Inc., a wireless products retailer, signed a definitive agreement to sell its
wholesale distributor subsidiary, National Cellular Inc., to National Cellular Investors L.P. The transaction is expected
to close by March 20, said the company. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The company was acquired by
Let’s Talk Cellular & Wireless, as part of its June 1997 acquisition of Telephone Warehouse.
American
Management Systems, an international business and information technology consulting firm, announced its board of
directors authorized the purchase of up to 1 million shares of its common stock through open market and negotiated
purchases. AMS said it may commence or suspend repurchases at any time.
